At the IEEE SA Ethernet & IP @ Automotive Technology Week from November 3 to 4, 2021 in Munich, Germany, and online, KDPOF will display their high-speed connectivity solutions for the communications in vehicle data networks. Optical connectivity perfectly solves the electrical challenges and interference in vehicles thanks to its low weight, low cost, and electromagnetic compatibility due to inherent galvanic isolation.
The KDPOF team is proud to have been selected as one of 40 startups for High-tech Venture Days (HTVD). HTVD is a platform and annual program for startups, investors and corporates. The aim is to foster innovation made in Europe by providing access to capital for high-tech startups that deliver patent-based technologies for B2B applications. This year’s event will take place from 26 to 27 October 2021, in Dresden, Germany, and online from 28 to 29 October 2021.
Together with several industry leaders, KDPOF is working on an optical automotive multi-gigabit system that will fulfill the needs of future connected and automated vehicles. Instead of various port components, the new solution provides a single, complete package. “As the auto industry approaches the 50 Gb/s*m speed-length threshold, the move from copper to optical physical data transmission media is becoming mandatory,” stated Carlos Pardo, CEO and Co-founder of KDPOF. “Optical is the engineering-wise path for higher data rates.” The new connector systems are very small, lightweight and extremely inexpensive compared to the previous ones. With the comprehensive EVK9351AUT evaluation kit, automotive manufacturers and suppliers can already test the new configuration at 1 Gbit/s today. KDPOF thus supports easy project entry into optical gigabit connectivity for a secure Ethernet backbone and ADAS sensor connections in vehicles.
KDPOF will present their optical Multi-gigabit Ethernet Connectivity System at ELIV (Electronics In Vehicles) International VDI Congress on October 20 to 21, 2021 at stand 38 in Bonn, Germany, and online.
(Valid only until 31 October 2021)
For technical details, please download the EVK9351AUT brochure.
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The key advantages of the optical solution, among others, are superior Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) thanks to the inherent galvanic isolation, low weight, and low cost. The optical cables are absolutely reliable and at least as flexible as copper cables in the same bandwidth range. They allow fast, dynamic and tight bending as well as immersion in dark liquids. In addition, optical connectivity guarantees easy engineering for seamless implementation. The ecosystem already exists since the system leverages well-proven technologies, such as VCSELs (Vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser), multimode fibers and photodiodes already developed for the data centers industry. The technology will be scalable in order to enable even higher data rates, such as 50 and 100 Gb/s, in the future. Standardization processes are ongoing with IEEE 802.3 Automotive Ethernet and ISO PWI 24581 in progress. The robust and reliable system solution provided by KDPOF and industry leaders thus offers the future-proven path to high speeds.
The proposed Multi-gigabit system supports Energy-Efficient Ethernet (EEE) tailored for automotive applications and wakes up in less than 100 ms. The target BER is better than 10-12 with ambient operating temp from -40ºC up to 105ºC (AEC-Q100 grade 2) in harsh automotive environments. High reliability (15 years operation, less than 10 FIT) and outstanding EMC compliance are also fulfilled. The technology in development is based on advanced digital signal processing, using high-speed DAC and ADC to implement all needed algorithms such as equalization or pre-coding. A new optical automotive IVN communication standard IEEE 802.3cz is currently in the task force phase and is targeting data rates of 2.5, 5, 10, 25, and 50 Gb/s. It is supported by several industry-leading companies. First engineering samples of the new automotive, single-chip, fully integrated Fiber Optic Transceiver package solution for 10 Gb/s will be available from KDPOF in fall 2022.
From September 29 to October 1, 2021, KDPOF will display an update on optical gigabit networking in vehicles at the virtual SIAT – Symposium on International Automotive Technology 2021. Cars are not solely about driving anymore – electronic devices such as anti-collision cameras, DVD players, and navigation systems make the difference. Like infotainment systems, Automotive Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) are becoming an integral part of the vehicle, with interfaces to many different clusters of electric/electronic systems. The bandwidth of fiber optics (as compared to traditional automotive cables) and its ease of use, low weight, low cost, coupled with its robustness against vibrations and external noise sources as well as electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) make it ideal for in-vehicle embedded multimedia networks. KDPOF automotive applications incorporate: battery management, safe communications backbones, smart antenna modules, infotainment, lower speed EMC-tight links, autonomous driving safety redundancy, and ADAS sensor interconnection.
We look forward to meeting you online at the event! For any inquiries, please feel free to contact us.
At the virtual Wire Harness Congress on September 22, 2021, KDPOF will inform about the status of Optical Multi-gigabit Connectivity in vehicles. In their presentation at 11:45, Juergen Schachtschneider, Automotive Manager Central Europe & Greater China, and César Esteban, Applications & Support Manager, will propose a complete optical communications system, which is under development by KDPOF and their industry partners.
As the auto industry approaches the 50 Gb/s*m speed-length threshold, the need to move from copper to optical physical data transmission media is becoming mandatory. Optical is the engineering-wise path for higher data rates. Together with several industry leaders, KDPOF is working on an optical communications system that will complement existing copper networks. Instead of various single devices, the new solution provides a complete package. The proposed Multi-gigabit system leverages existing technologies, as VCSELs (Vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser), multimode fibers and photodiodes already developed for the data centers industry. It will support Energy-Efficient Ethernet (EEE) tailored for automotive applications. The target BER is better than 10-12 with ambient operating temp from -40ºC up to 105ºC (AEC-Q100 grade 2) in harsh automotive environments. High reliability (15 yrs operation, less than 10 FIT) and outstanding EMC compliance will also be fulfilled. The technology in development is based on advanced digital signal processing based on high-speed DAC and ADC to implement all needed algorithms such as equalization or pre-coding. First engineering samples of the new automotive, single-chip, fully integrated Fiber Optic Transceiver package solution for 10 Gb/s will be available in fall 2021. A new optical automotive IVN communication standard is currently under development within IEEE under the name 802.3cz and is supported by several industry-leading companies.
We look forward to meeting you online at the congress! For any inquiries, please feel free to contact Juergen Schachtschneider.
On August 13, 2021 from 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. IST (Indian Standard Time, 6:00 to 7:30 a.m. UTC), Óscar Ciordia, César Esteban, and Kenny Yoon will give the online seminar “The Use of Plastic Optical Fiber in the Automotive Industry”. The seminar is organized by the Society of Automotive Engineers India (SAE India).
Plastic Optical Fiber (POF) is becoming an integral part of the vehicle with interfaces to many different clusters of the electric/electronic systems in the automotive industry. POF is the medium of choice for automotive networks, primarily due to its versatility and is the best alternate solution to existing wiring technology. The key advantages of the optical solution are, among others, Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) thanks to its inherent galvanic isolation, robustness, low weight, and low cost. In his seminar, César Esteban will cover the following topics: the need for automotive wire line connectivity to evolve to Ethernet, advantages of optical links, use cases for fiber optics, as well as POF value chain and proposal.
For more information, please see the seminar brochure from SAE India.
Registration is open.
Carlos Pardo will give an online presentation about Automotive Optical Multi-gigabit Ethernet at the Automotive Technologies Virtual Conference on May 13, 2021 at 5:30 p.m. EST and on demand. In-Vehicle Network (IVN) requirements are quickly evolving with new challenges like automated driving or electric power trains. The IVN has to support use cases such the vehicle data backbone, smart antennas, ADAS cameras/sensors, and displays or data loggers which demand higher data bandwidth while maintaining the reliability level required by the automotive industry. A new IVN standard is needed for multi-gigabit optical communications.
This optical automotive IVN communication standard, 802.3cz, is currently under development within the IEEE and is supported by several industry-leading companies. The new standard will cover rates up to 50 Gbits/s and support several in-line connectors. The target BER is better than 10-12 with ambient operation temp from -40°C up to +105°C (AEC-Q100 grade 2) in harsh automotive environments. High reliability (15 years operation, less than 10 FIT), and outstanding EMC compliance will also be fulfilled. In his presentation, Carlos Pardo will cover the needed standard, and detail the components needed to make this a reality.
For more information and registration, please visit automotivevirtualconference.com
KDPOF has successfully participated at the virtual ISCAS 2020 in October with several contributions: a presentation on multi-gigabit Ethernet for the automotive industry, an overview lecture on high-speed data communications over POF, and an important role in the final industry panel session. The IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems (ISCAS) is the flagship conference of the IEEE Circuits and Systems (CAS) Society and the world’s premiere networking forum for researchers in the highly active fields of theory, design, and implementation of circuits and systems.
Session Chairmen Enrique Prefasi Sen, Analog and Mixed Signal Senior Designer of KDPOF, and Alberto Rodríguez-Pérez, Analog and Mixed Signal Manager of KDPOF, have presented the paper “Towards the Multi-Gigabit Ethernet for the Automotive Industry”. The paper, within the special session “Multi-gigabit Wireline & Optical Communication Circuits & Systems Session”, showed the status of Ethernet-based communication solutions, focused on optical links for the automotive industry. They displayed the implementation of a product compatible with the 1000BASE-RHC according to the IEEE Std 802.3bv, which is the first one able to transmit 1 Gbps over POF for automotive. In addition, the KDPOF experts described a new architecture to achieve up to 25 Gbps for automotive. The proposed multi-gigabit system leverages existing technologies such as VCSELs, multi-mode fibers, and photodiodes already developed for the data center industry.
In his lecture, Alberto Rodríguez-Pérez gave an overview of the use of Plastic Optical Fiber as a medium for optical data communications and the techniques needed to get high speed data bitrates over POF. It is an interesting alternative optical communication channel to the Glass Optical Fibers (GOF) for applications that are not required to cover long distances, such as home or automotive networking. However, the reduced low bandwidth of the POF channel imposes big limitations in the maximum data bitrate that can be transmitted through this medium. Consequently, advanced data communication techniques such as channel equalization, data error correction, or data signal modulation need to be applied to achieve data bitrates above 1 Gbps.
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Optical network technology overcomes these trends thanks to its inherent galvanic isolation, robustness, low cost, and low weight. Carmakers will benefit from optical links for communications between the 48-volt and the 12-volt domains. For weight, the optical network will save more than 30 percent of the equivalent copper-based harness weight. Optical Ethernet provides 100 Mb/s and 1 Gb/s network solutions today, and multi-gigabit Ethernet is the significant upcoming breakthrough for in-vehicle networks. The standardization effort for optical multi-gigabit is already in progress within the IEEE as an amendment to the Ethernet standard 802.3.
KDPOF is delighted to present at the virtual Photonics Days Berlin Brandenburg 2020 from October 5 to 8, 2020. On Monday, October 5 at 10:40, César Esteban, Application and Support Manager of KDPOF, will give the presentation “Optical Automotive Ethernet” within the session “Innovative Optical Fibers”. Plastic optical fibers (POF) are the most reliable solution in vehicles since they can withstand harsh environments, vibrations, misalignments, dirtiness, humidity, wide temperature range, etc. Additionally, optical Ethernet generates very low noise and can operate in noisy environments, such as in RF electronic boards.
Recently, ISO (International Organization for Standardization) has added two new sections to the in-vehicle Ethernet series 21111. These newly approved parts are key components to assure reliable implementations of systems that realize in-vehicle Ethernet Optical 1 Gb/s as a physical layer. With the new ISO 21111 sections complementing the existing IEEE Std 802.3bvTM, optical Gigabit connectivity is now entirely standardized. Based on these standards, KDPOF’s optical technology allows a complete, compatible, and interoperating implementation for carmakers and Tier1s.
The KD1053 transceiver perfectly meets the requirements of carmakers by providing high connectivity with a flexible digital host interface, low latency, low jitter, and low linking time. The transceiver is optimized for low power and small footprint and transmits data at 1000/100 Mb/s on standard SI-POF, MC-POF, or PCS, according to 1000BASE-RH (IEEE 802.3bv).
With technological leaps such as electrical vehicles, automated driving, and V2X interconnection rushing through, automotive applications, utilization, and safety requirements are boosting the necessary network speed tremendously. Consequently, in-vehicle networks are on the brink of speeds from one to multiple gigabits per second. Optical Multi-Gigabit Ethernet in the car is on the verge of standardization and implementation. With the approval of the IEEE 802.3 working group, a team of individuals affiliated with more than 15 key carmakers and components suppliers, including KDPOF, has started the standardization of an IEEE 802.3 Automotive Optical Multi-Gigabit Standard with strong support from the industry. KDPOF has already displayed the world’s first demonstration of an automotive-grade optical transmission system with 50 gigabits per second single lane, leveraging datacom components.
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